Down here at the pawn shop

[DanaC]

Payin it forward.

I'm so pleased Richard got his keyboard. And, maybe at some point he'll be heartbroken when he has to give it up. Or maybe not. Either way he had the joy of getting it, after a year of putting away what he could on it. And for however long he has it, he'll have the joy of that.

[glatt]

That's all kind of awesome.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

The gents felt this was an impossible event and that it must have been someone I was nice to while I was working the counter.

Or, she bought your services for tonight.

[Gravdigr]

I've been bought for less...

[Undertoad]

When I sell phones, I run through activation and take pictures of the settings. I like to let buyers know exactly what they're getting. In theory, it improves the shop's positive feedback percentage.

But sometimes phones can't be activated for various reasons. These days, the vendors are locking down the phones technologically. For example, iPhones can be remotely locked by an owner through their iCloud account.

[glatt]

Can the pawn shop get its money back if it bought the hot phone?

I wonder if this increases, will the pawn shop change its policy on phones? Hold the phone for two weeks to make sure it doesn't get locked, and then make the payout after that quarantine period.

[Undertoad]

Phones that are reported stolen can be bought back from the shop for what it was bought in for, sometimes after a long period involving restitution.

This phone has not been reported stolen. iCloud is not where you report stolen phones. You report stolen phones to the carrier, who locks them using the international serial number. Then you report them to the police, who then check them against our database of stuff.

The phones have been getting more and more locked down, but there's no way we would ever implement anything complicated. If a thing has value it's bought in, if it doesn't, it doesn't. Locked phones still have value, though much less than a phone that's registerable. I guess people are using them for parts.

[sexobon]

Does business at the pawn shop pick up significantly in January? One might think it would between those who received unwanted holiday gifts without gift receipts and those who need to raise money to pay their holiday shopping bills.

[Undertoad]

No no, my friend, you are middle class. The rules of the middle class do not apply in the ghetto.

- There are no "holiday bills". Nobody in the ghetto has credit. In fact, I can't remember running a credit transaction in my entire time working the window. Many ghetto people have debit cards, but not credit. If you have the means to get credit, you have a decent long-term job, and you are probably on the way to getting out of the ghetto. Bills are for things like water, electricity, heat.

- Ghetto people do not understand receipts, much less "gift receipts". A good third of them find it too hard to hold on to the pawn tickets with which they can get their prized pawned possessions.

The uptick in pawn shop business is in December, when people are trying to get cash for gifts, and trying to buy used shit to give as gifts. The only exception I can think of is the white college students who have learned that the pawn shop will give them 50 cents on the dollar for most gift cards.

[sexobon]

I take it you're saying that the unwanted holiday gifts without gift receipts (stolen merchandise) and those who need to raise money to pay their holiday shopping bills (bail for theft) doesn't significantly increase business at the shop. Bummer. I thought everybody there knew at least one somebody else who'd raise that situation.

[Undertoad]

Guy just came in looking for a notepad computer.

[Undertoad]

Randomness. Bob Marley was on the radio when a Jamaican guy came in and did a deal involving a lot of discussion. It freaked me right out.

[Undertoad]

A big problem with the shop is when it's all too clear you're participating in criminal activity. You just have to say it is what it is, and go past it.

I tell myself I don't know why this phone has that status and it's really a problem for whomever buys it, as long as I document it. So I document it and put it into the eBay entry.

[glatt]

I suppose the phone could have been lost. You have no way of knowing it was stolen. And the cracked screen would also fit with it falling unnoticed from a bag or something.

But it seems to me that if you can lock up a phone and put a message on it like "call owner," I wonder if including "reward offered" would be good to include. Maybe it's more likely that you would get it back.

If you can lock a phone remotely, can you also remotely get it to upload all data to the cloud? And then erase that data?

[Undertoad]

I don't know about remotely backing up, but you can remotely erase now, and this phone was remotely erased and locked.